Stairs seemed like a good idea at first for the building. But then I found that the materials were one-sided, so they were transparent underneath. Took out the stairs and place the structure on the ground. That was my main theme for the day. Creating something and realizing there was a better and more lazy solution for me.
The alchemist pack had the perfect parts for this level, and a lot of the pieces fit well together. I merged some of the objects so they created a window, and then I made sure everything was aligned. To block any entry to the volcano I extended the wall I placed down when I first made the level. I ran around and jumped a lot to test if there was any spot the player could slip through. After finding a height that wasn’t too extreme I left the wall at piece.
I updated some of the actors to give them more interesting visuals and make them appear more distinct. There were a lot of models I hadn’t taken advantage of yet so I added them to the scene. Some things were too big for the house, and they needed scaling down.
The roof was a problem because there wasn’t a nice way to model for the roof. I had a ceiling then I removed it. Tested out what it would be like to have a house with no top whatsoever. The camera hit the walls too often. I put back the ceiling, but I still went with the idea of an open top. For the ceiling I used a glass material with a scratched texture. It looks great from above. From underneath you can’t even see it. While this was just a solution to my roof problem it has given me lots of ideas for what else to put in this level. The reflections the glass captures is absolutely gorgeous. It helped with the camera issue but the camera still wasn’t in the right position. I placed the blueprint that makes the camera push in when the player enters it.
I started adding life to the house with other models and objects that hopefully convinces the player that someone actually lived here. Added plants to the back and also added a new light object to illuminate the interior of the house.
I need to start working on the flow of the puzzle and figure out how to give clues to the player. The level is such an open area I feel there are a lot more things I could add. I’m considering adding a dog, since I got a free asset months ago that came with a lot of great german shepherd animations. It is very, very cute. Though that isn’t the priority right now. The next thing to finish is the structure of the puzzle.
GoldenGratus Games 